REVIEW: How to Decorate a Christmas Tree, by Vikki VanSickle, Illustrated by Miki Sato

Available on October 10, 2023

A little girl shares the steps for the perfect tree trimming — a holiday picture book for fans of Pick a Pine Tree and The Little Christmas Tree.

In this charming Christmas tale, readers will follow along with the main character as she shares all the things that go into decorating a tree:

Lights
Ornaments
Popcorn
Hot chocolate
Taffy the cat
Memories
And, most importantly, family!

With stunning three-dimensional art by Miki Sato and a delightful story by wordsmith Vikki VanSickle, including a twist ending, this book will quickly become a Christmas tree decorating tradition of its own.

My 9 year old picked this out to read with me, so you get a bonus voice in this review.

My take: Delightful. It brought some Christmas spirit to an otherwise dreary day when we read this, as we talked about our favorite ornaments and how we decorate our tree and home. I LOVED the artwork and that they weren't flat. The writing is approachable for children of any age.

My daughter's. When we read a book, I ask her to tell me 3 things she really liked about it.
1. The pictures. You could see they were "made" and not drawn.
2. The cat all the way through. It was like a little story itself.
3. It made me think about our Christmas tree, and made me want to make my own ornaments like the ones in the book.

I asked her if she'd want me to buy a copy when it's published and she tells me that for someone her age, it's a "library book" (read and return), but she'd like to get one for her baby sister.

What do you think??

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this ebook galley from Penguin Random House Canada through the NetGalley publisher/reader connection program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.